A desire to enhance understandings of human cultures and communitiesA desire to enhance understandings of human cultures and communities

The Department of American Studies at UEA is a vibrant centre for promoting and disseminating world-leading research into the life and culture of the United States and beyond. With 74 per cent of its research rated 4* (world leading) or 3* (internationally excellent), the Department was the highest ranked American Studies submission in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF2014) and placed fifth in the Area Studies Unit of Assessment.

Powerfully underpinned by UEA’s tradition of, and commitment to, interdisciplinary research, our areas of expertise range from the Revolutionary period to the present day, encompassing literature and drama, history, politics, and foreign relations. Staff specialisms include American urban history, the international history of the Cold War, civil rights, ecocriticism, American popular culture, and contemporary multiethnic American literature and film.

Our research strategy is driven by a desire to enhance understandings of human cultures and communities, their linguistic, historic and literary transformations, and by the questions of power and identity that issue from such investigations. As such, we work closely with our colleagues in the School of Language and Communication Studies.

The research we undertake has demonstrated significant impact, benefiting a wide variety of groups from practitioners and professionals (film-makers, interpreters, lawyers, police, and teachers), to communities facing particular intercultural challenges (whether native communities or immigrants to Norfolk), and the general public (from local children to visitors to special events).